Say hello to the Bengals' most underrated signing of an offseason filled with blockbuster moves, ranging from the Dexter Lawrence trade to the Bryan Cook signing and all the way up to Tuesday's Joe Burrow re-structuring a week before mandatory minicamp.
But don't forget one-time Bengals villain Kyle Dugger, the versatile safety with a linebacker mentality who captained the Patriots before last year's midseason trade to the Steelers. He signed on April 2, but didn't show again until Tuesday's OTA after the May 30 birth of daughter Frances Josephine in Boston.
"I missed the first one. I had COVID," Dugger said after practice of the birth of his son. "I have a big role in it. I had to be there. I had to stay because you don't know when it's going to happen."
When Frances arrived at 6:16 p.m., it seemed to be a nod to her father switching sides to join the good guys.
Dugger broke the Bengals' back last season in Pittsburgh in his third game as a Steeler with a pick-six off No. 16, quarterback Joe Flacco, driving for the go-ahead score at the Pittsburgh 35, and took it 73 yards for a third-quarter touchdown that made it a two-score game.
It's the kind of smart, spur-of-the-moment play in coverage that attracted the Bengals to Dugger. After all, here's a guy who was taken four picks after Bengals Pro Bowl wide receiver Tee Higgins in the 2020 draft and has 11 career interceptions.
With the Steelers bringing five rushers and Dugger's man, tight end Drew Sample, staying in to help block, Dugger dropped into the middle of the field, and Flacco had to get it out under duress. It went to the roaming Dugger in front of Higgins and he took it for his third career pick-six.
"I was the robber," Dugger said.
Yet Dugger has killed the Bengals on two different defenses on two different plays, which is how they envision (on paper) using his physical versatility as the third safety working with starters Bryan Cook and Jordan Battle.
When the 6-1, 220-pound Dugger goes into the box on sub packages, you may forget the Bengals spent their money on the front and the back rather than at linebacker.
(According to Pro Football Reference, Dugger missed just three tackles last year while on the field for more than 700 plays.)
Take Opening Day, 2024, when the Patriots stunned the Bengals, 16-10. Dugger was no robber, but rather a thief who went into the box and helped flummox the Bengals' run game on 16 carries for 70 yards with six tackles.
"Pep (the other Patriots safety Jabril Peppers) and I were left and right that year. I was primarily a free safety. But in that game, I just happened to be down (in the box) a little more," Dugger said. "I try to be physical with everything I can. I want to get back to playing more physical than in the past."
But it will be recalled that Dugger made the play of that game in coverage with the Patriots holding a 7-0 lead as halftime neared. Even though he went through a DB's red-zone nightmare and got erased from the play. But he kept playing.
Facing a third-and-11 from the Pats 15, Burrow hit tight end Tanner Hudson for what looked to be a quick-hitter and game-tying touchdown. But when Hudson extended the ball as the goal line neared, Dugger never gave up and knocked the ball out to give the ball and ultimately the win to the Patriots.
"I got caught on a pick," Dugger said. "It was levels blocking levels in man coverage. I just had to give as much as I could to prevent the touchdown. The ball got a little loose and I was able to get it out."
At the other end of the locker room, Hudson remembers everything "vividly" about that play. From the moment Dan Pitcher gave the play to Burrow in his first game as Bengals offensive coordinator.
"Pitch made a fantastic call. I screwed it up fumbling on the 1," Hudson said. "He made a great play to never give up on the ball. That's the kind of guy we want on our team. You go through adversity in mid-play and you come back and make a play to change that whole play entirely."
And, don't forget, the play before, when Burrow lofted what looked to be another touchdown to former Patriot tight end Mike Gesicki in his first game as Bengal. But Duggar's leap on a jump ball in the back of the end zone was enough to make Gesicki juggle the ball.
"Good player. Got a second contract in New England," said Gesicki of his teammate who got $32 million guaranteed. "Versatile guy. Physical safety. He can do a lot of different things."
Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden hopes to take the microcosm of those plays that made him a Cincy villain and put it to good use in his system. It helps that Dugger says he got a similar Golden taste of defense in the last days of Bill Belichick and first days of Mike Vrabel in Foxboro, as well as that stint with Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
"It's a blessing to have carryover from every defense I've been in," Dugger said. "It was a very different defense under Vrabel coming from Bill and (Jerod) Mayo. It's really helpful. Especially now. Because we do a lot of the same things. A lot of similar things that we did with Vrabel here and even some of the things that we did with Belichick."
Which makes sense since Golden cut his NFL teeth in the Bill Parcells system that produced Belichick with the Giants via Al Groh at the University of Virginia.